We need to step up, support schools

Published 11:53 am Friday, January 14, 2011

The Lake Washington School District (LWSD) has a growing space crisis.

In part a victim of its own success, more families and students want to go to our schools than the district has space. LWSD has already taken measures to use as efficiently as possible the classrooms and facilities it has now. Other low-cost alternatives to building additional space — like having students attend high schools in shifts over a longer school day —will have long-term impact to our students’ education, countless community activities, and the hard-earned district reputation.

The Lake Washington School Board has proposed building only the additions that are needed now, knowing that this is not the best time to ask for money. Classrooms in some schools may still become larger than suitable, but a successful levy by the community will stave off whole schools being grossly overcrowded for years.

It’s time now to come together again as a community to raise the money needed to expand classroom space in the right places to accommodate this growth in student population.

No building program — for modernization or expansion — can pass with the support of just one area. The immediate need for high school space in Redmond and Sammamish is acute and it is real. As part of the larger school community including the City of Kirkland too, we all must support all the neighborhood schools’ needs over time.

As a community we must continue to support our exceptional public school district by voting “Yes” to the school levy on Feb. 8.

Byron Shutz, Redmond